Former police chief Becker addresses Portage Exchange Club
NWI Times
Jan 3, 2012
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/portage/former-police-chief-becker-addresses-portage-exchangeclub/article_ae6844cd-e3b9-5b6a-bd84-913647c58615.html
PORTAGE | The Portage Exchange Club recently welcomed former Portage Police Chief Mark Becker for his final report on the city of Portage. He shared some information that he had compiled in a Threat Assessment and Overview for newly elected mayor James Snyder.
Becker said that in his opinion one of the police department's main focuses should remain making Portage an unwelcome place for criminal elements.
Marijuana still appears to be the drug of choice with prescription drugs being a close second.
"It is up to parents and grandparents to make sure that it is not easy for kids to get access to their prescription drugs," Becker said.
He talked about "designer drugs" that have appeared on the scene. Drugs such as K2, Spice, Ka-Boom and bath salts are synthetically made. Their makers change ingredients often, making it more difficult to outlaw them.
"We don't know the long-term effects of these drugs, so they are particularly worrisome," he explained. "One of the possible side effects of synthetic drugs is self-destructive behavior."
He discussed the consolidation of 911 dispatchers. While it brought financial savings of over $650,000 to the city, he acknowledged some of the problems caused by the implementation of the state-mandated initiative.
"We did not jump into it. The consolidation effort took about a year of careful considerations and research with many meetings, many discussions with folks around the country who had consolidated. We were very thorough."
Looking back at some of the programs of which he was most proud, Becker cited the STOP team, increased traffic stops and increased continuing education for the officers.
"The STOP team has three great officers who are very aggressive in fighting crime and are able to think outside the box. They visit schools, enforce speed zones, watch out for signs of graffiti and drugs. They stopped about 1400 cars in three years, which resulted in 300 arrests. We developed over 100 informants during those three years, all of whom helped us keep track of the changing crime issues facing the community.
"Overall, we had about 13,000 traffic stops this year, up from 4- to 5000 in previous years. Increased traffic stops have been shown to result in a reduction of crime. People with criminal intentions are not always conscientious about keeping their registration or license plate stickers up to date. They don't want to come to a city where they know they might be stopped for that kind of violation, which could lead to weapons or drug charges.
"We've also offered incentives for our officers to receive continuing education. This raises the level of professionalism in the department."
Becker also praised the Arrive Alive Program, which targets youthful drivers; the Citizens Academy, a ten-week program that allows citizens to experience much of what officers experience on a daily basis; and Cops for a Cure that raised over $19,000 for the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure Cancer Race.
Becker himself will be involved in providing continuing education. He is scheduled for sixteen presentations through St. Petersburg College in Florida over the course of the next year. He will continue to provide his "Chief's e-mail" to those who wish to receive it. His new e-mail is markbecker2012@gmail.com.
"We found that the ‘Chief's e-mail' was a great way to engage the community," he said. "I wish Mayor Snyder and the new police chief Troy Williams much success. I am sorry to be leaving Portage, but I think my tenure here was successful. Statistics show that over the course of four years, all crime has dropped by about 1%. That may not sound like much, but we have a larger population than we had four years ago. Usually, more people equals more opportunities for crime, but our crime rate dropped.
"Being a police officer is often a thankless job. I tell my officers, ‘Try to treat everyone as you would want your family member to be treated in the same circumstances.' These officers see the darkest, ugliest things in life at a ridiculously low salary in Indiana with low retirement benefits, and they are still out there doing the best that they can every day."
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